In Hollywood, Cary Grant has grown weary of cinema's constant glamour, but Her Majesty's Secret Service will break his malaise with a bizarre diplomatic mission. In Naples, Lucky Luciano fixes horse races and launches the global heroin trade. And in Bologna, a bartender searches for true love and his missing communist father. 

Set during the height of the Cold War-with the world divided into East and West-54 features Italian partisans, KGB agents, Parisian lowlifes, and cameos by David Niven, Marshal Tito, and Grace Kelly. Wu Ming brings us a cinematic romp that is by turns edgy social satire and modern comic send up. 

Translation by Shaun Whiteside. Print original Italian version and other translations available from Wu Ming Foundation

In Hollywood, Cary Grant has grown weary of cinema's glamour, but Her Majesty's Secret Service will break his malaise with a bizarre diplomatic mission. In Naples, Lucky Luciano fixes horse races and begins to lay the foundation for the global heroin trade. And in Bologna, a bartender searches for true love and his missing communist father. It is 1954--the height of the Cold War--and these three are on a path toward an intersection that will involve the nascent KGB, Joseph McCarthy, Frances Farmer, Parisian lowlifes, Marshal Tito, David Niven, James Bond, and a very special television set called the McGuffin Electric. This book is a political thriller, a comic spy caper, a romance, and a social satire.--From publisher description

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